Plow blades are generally designed to plow material, such as snow, e.g., while the plow vehicle is moving forward. For example, snow plow blades are typically designed to push snow. However, in many applications, the snow must be pulled away from obstacles, such as a garage in some home driveway applications, curbs, parking lot islands, loading docks, etc. In these applications, where snow must be pulled from tight areas, the plow vehicle first must drive over the snow in order to get in position to lower the plow and start back dragging the snow away. This packs the snow into hard-packed icy snow and sticks it to the surface with the weight of the plow vehicle. While pulling the snow backwards, the plow vehicle now moving in reverse again drives back over the snow a second time, packing down the snow in the process even more. When the plow vehicle is moving in reverse, a normal snow plow blade that is curved, e.g., concave forward, for forward plowing now floats over the snow, e.g., typically leaving about 1 inch to about 2 inches of snow that can not be removed from the surface being plowed. Therefore, various back-blade configurations have been implemented for improving snow plowing in reverse.
Plow blades designed for forward plowing often include a trip mechanism that allows a bottom portion of the plow blade, e.g., or the entire plow blade when pushing snow while plowing in the forward direction, to be deflected or tripped when the plow blade hits a permanent object like a manhole, curb, etc. However, plow blades designed for forward plowing are normally not configured to be tripped when the blade hits a permanent object when plowing in reverse. Moreover, the various back-blade configurations designed for plowing in reverse are usually not configured to be tripped when the blade hits an object when plowing in reverse.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternative plow blades.